DALLAS -- The United Church of Christ has accepted a predominantly gay Dallas megachurch into its fold. That means about a quarter of the mainline denomination's members in Texas and Louisiana attend the same church.

The North Texas Association of the Cleveland, Ohio-based UCC voted 32-9 last month to admit the 4,300-member Cathedral of Hope after a year-long courtship. The cathedral bills itself as “the world's largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.''

The cathedral becomes the fourth largest church in the denomination. It decided to affiliate with the UCC after the denomination's decision last year to endorse gay marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so.

That decision prompted about 140 churches in the 5,700-church denomination to leave the UCC. Also, the denomination's 60-church Puerto Rico conference also decided to depart.

But that defection has been partially offset by 65 churches that have expressed interest in joining. That's the most since the UCC formed in 1957 by the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

The Congregational movement has its roots in the Pilgrims and Puritans who settled Massachusetts in the early 17th century.

	About the UCC, Cathedral of Hope
The Cathedral of Hope: • Has membership of 4,300 - about 1,500 of whom attend weekly services. • Has a satellite parish in Oklahoma City. • Gives away $1 million a year to the surrounding community. • Owns the architectural plans of Philip Johnson-designed 11-story sanctuary and Interfaith Peace Chapel. Engaged in a $3.5 million fundraising project to build the chapel. • Has more than 200 children attending its Children's Department programs. • Offers four worship services per week. The UCC: • Has 5,725 churches throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. It was formed in 957 with the union of the Congregational Christian Churches in America and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Has about 1.3 million members. • Became the first major Christian church to ordain an openly gay minister in the 1970s. The church declared itself to be “open and affirming'' of gays and lesbians 20 years ago. • Is the largest Protestant denomination in New England. • Claims membership of U-S Senator Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat; Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean; Marilynne Robinson, 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Gilead; the Reverend Andrew Young, civil rights leader and former Atlanta mayor; and the Reverend Barry Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.